


Turn Your Back to the Crowd

by MercuryHomophony



Series: The Reaper Family [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fantasy orchestras, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12900189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryHomophony/pseuds/MercuryHomophony
Summary: "To lead an orchestra, you must turn your back to the crowd."In which Taako tries to do something nice for Kravitz, gets jealous, and learns a little about himself.





	1. Chapter 1

Taako dropped it on him at breakfast.

“You…” Kravitz stared across the table at his boyfr- fiancé, puzzled. “You bought… an orchestra?”

Taako waved a hand as if dismissing the notion. “I didn’t _buy_ an orchestra, Krav, I _hired_ an orchestra. With my ridiculous abundance of wealth.”

“For…”

“For _conducting,_ Kravitz, what else do you do with an orchestra?” Taako had gone from confident and grinning to suddenly carefully disinterested, examining his nails and tapping the side of his coffee mug. “It’s something you’re into, right?”

“…” Taako glanced up at his lack of response, glancing away again when he saw Kravitz still staring back at him. His ears flicked down, then back, trying to maintain composure.

“That’s like… what you wanted to do, right? Before the whole…” he pantomimed swinging a scythe, and Kravitz bit back a chuckle at his over-the-top grim expression. “Thing? So, I mean, I thought it would be nice.”

“To treat me to conducting an orchestra. You hired _me_ an orchestra.”

“I think we’ve gotten around that point, Bone-zone, you gotta get on page Taako here,” Taako snapped, a little bristlier. Kravitz laughed, and Taako relaxed.

“So, what, I just… conduct them?”

“Again, that is what you usually do with an orchestra.” Now that Kravitz had shown some sort of interest, Taako’s lazy, triumphant smile had returned. “You can live out some of your dream. I already talked to Lup and Barry – they said they can cover for you on rehearsal days.”

“Rehearsal days?”

“Well, yeah, you can’t exactly perform if you don’t like, rehearse and shit.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “They’re the best, though, so it’s more like… getting it to be your vision or whatever, you know?” Kravitz bit back another laugh at his behavior – Taako tried so hard to be casual, cool and aloof, and with most people it worked. Unfortunately (for him), he spent most of his time with his family, who could read him and his twitchy habits like a book. He was nervous Kravitz wouldn’t like his gift, but now that the reaper was catching up to his thought process, he found himself enjoying the thought more and more. Across the table, Taako seemed to sense he was trying not to laugh, and huffed, sitting back in his seat and snatching up a piece of toast, nibbling at it. “Well fine, see if I do anything nice for _you_ again,” he muttered. Kravitz smiled.

“I’m just always impressed by your generosity, love,” he said, and predictably Taako thawed a bit at that.

“So, yeah. I’m pretty awesome, it’s pretty awesome. Rehearsals are whenever you wanna schedule them, and I’ve booked the Neverwinter Royal theatre for a night in four weeks.”

Kravitz choked on his coffee, barely managing to avoid spitting it out. “Four weeks?” he coughed, holding a napkin to his lips. “That’s… not a long time for an amateur, Taako.”

Taako just rolled his eyes. “Amateur? Bull-fucking-shit, Kravitz, I’ve heard you talk about music composition before.”

“Yes, but it’s been _years_ since I’ve actually... performed…”

Taako frowned across the table, concerned now, and reached out a hand. Wordlessly, Kravitz took it, squeezing it as his nerves calmed down. “You don’t _have_ to, Krav,” he said, quiet. “I thought it might be nice to get to do what you _wanted_ to do. You have Lup and Barry to carry some of the weight now, and you’ve got me – live a little. Follow your dreams, and all that shit.” He smirked. “Don’t forget: “Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.””

“Book of Taako,” Kravitz chorused with him, and they both laughed.

“Seriously, though,” Taako said when they’d caught their breath. “This is for you. If it’s not something you want, tell me, and I’ll cancel the whole shebang.”

Kravitz thought it over for a minute. “…let me meet this orchestra, and we’ll see what I can do.”

Taako grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

Taako had hardly seen his fiancee in _two weeks_.

Not that it _mattered_ , of course – Kravitz was still right there, they still got to snuggle in bed on occasion, and it’s not like Taako didn’t have a million of his own things going on – Taako was a busy dude, he couldn’t be hanging out with Kravitz all the time, but…

But, all of Kravitz’s time was split between his work, and the orchestra. He had thrown himself whole-heartedly into this project. It had barely taken him a day to apparently decide on the piece he wanted, and since then he’d been eating, breathing, and living music, so to speak.

 On top of that, while he enjoyed it, Kravitz didn’t _need_ to sleep, which meant rehearsal time was any time he wasn’t on the clock. He worked with the orchestra in sections, on rotation, and on any given day, Taako’s basement (which had been renovated as a sound-proof practice space, an _additional_ kindness Taako had set up) was flooded with the sounds of woodwinds, brass, drums and strings, all separate.

Or at least, he’d assumed so. Kravitz wouldn’t let him listen to anything.

He’d met him at the basement door the first time Taako had tried to check in downstairs to see how it was going, beaming at him as he took Taako’s hand.

“Not quite yet, love – I want it to be a surprise for you,” he’d said. “I want to show you just how much this means to me, okay?”

And geeze, what could Taako say to _that_? Damn Kravitz, with his… sincerity, and… Fuck, he had it bad.

The true betrayal was the day Barry and Lup got in on it.

“You too?” Taako just barely didn’t whine, watching them head for the stairs to the practice-basement. Lup had her violin case under one arm, and Barry had a portfolio of sheet music and two music stands precariously balanced in his grasp. Lup grinned and winked.

“Aww, jealous Koko?” She laughed at his responding pout. “C’mon, brother mine – you can’t expect us to pass up the chance to perform with your buried beau.”

“But I’m the only one who doesn’t know _anything_ about it so far!” Taako threw his hands up. “When I got you two to cover the graveyard shift for him, I thought you two were on _my_ side!”

“That was before he decided he needed a pianist, and a first violin,” Barry said. Taako stuck his tongue out at him, turning away.

“Koko…” Lup and Barry shared a look, and she waved him on, waiting until he’d shut the basement door behind him before turning to Taako, one hand on her hip. “Taako, you know he’s only keeping this a secret because he’s a big gay softie nerdlord, right?”

Taako just groaned dramatically, flopping back onto the couch, arm draped over his eyes, and she laughed again, plucking up a pillow with mage hand and bapping him with it. “I’m serious, he wanted to make this real awesome for you – hey, remember me and Bar-bar’s thing at the Legato Conservatory? It’s like that, he wants it to be like that.”

“You were a _part_ of that, Lulu,” Taako said, muffled by the pillow on his face.

Lup perched on the arm of the couch. “You _are_ a part of this,” Lup soothed. “You _thought_ of it, and you’ve given him something that’s really special to him. It’s not something he’s taking lightly. He just wants to show you how much he appreciates it by making it the best he can do.” Taako answered with a friendly finger in her direction, and she snorted. “And besides, you don’t even play an instrument.”

“I’m not a _bard_ , I’m a wizard and a chef and a proclaimer of wisdom,” he declared, earning himself another pillow to the face. He chucked it back, and she ducked, laughing.

Behind her, Barry just barely deflected the pillow as he came back through the door. “Rehearsal’s about to start. Everything, uh… everything cleared up?”

Lup looked over at Taako, who rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh. “Yeah,” he said, pulling himself up. “I think we’re good.”

Before he left, though, Lup caught his arm. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, smiling. “Trust me, Taako, it’s gonna be the best surprise ever.”

 

 

He kept himself as busy as possible the next few days, and, he had to begrudgingly admit – it was nice having people coming in and out of the house so frequently. Whenever he wasn’t doing “work” for his school or his brand, Taako was usually in the kitchen, inventing new recipes or re-familiarizing himself with old ones, and with the steady stream of musicians passing through, he was never at a loss for taste-testers.

One tall halfling woman, Brenna Urito, was quickly becoming his favorite – she never backed down from a new taste, and wasn’t afraid to mince her words before his almighty famousness. The other musicians caught on eventually, but he and Brenna were well on the way to gossip buddies by that point.

Still, even with his ins in the band, he couldn’t pry a single detail about the show Kravitz was planning. Eventually, he gave up on bribing them with food and resigned himself to surprise.

 

 

It was three weeks in, one week until the performance, when Taako woke from meditation to someone crawling into bed next to him. When he moved, the other froze, and Taako almost laughed at Kravitz’s embarrassed expression in the dark.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz said quietly, voice rumbling low in his chest as he reached over to pull Taako in. “I was trying not to wake - - !” Taako cut him off with a firm kiss, delighting in how quickly Kravitz melted from his stiff surprise, wrapping one arm around the elf’s waist to pull him in closer. Taako leaned in to him, allowing himself to indulge the languid passion of the embrace, before pressing for something with more hunger, more force; and he grinned with wry satisfaction when Kravitz pushed him down onto the bed, pressing his own body against him.

Some time later, they lay sprawled out across one another. Taako drew his fingertips across Kravitz’s chest, following new curves and contours with sated exhaustion, while Kravitz played with the ends of Taako’s long hair, letting the strands fall through his fingers as he stroked them along Taako’s back.

“Finally decided to take a break?” Taako said, the first _real_ sentence they’d exchanged in nearly four days (“yes” and “more,” which had been repeated several dozen times in the last hour or so, did not count). Kravitz laughed softly, his breath stirring Taako’s hair.

“Barry and Lup talked me into it,” he admitted. “Said the orchestra needed a break, and that _you_ were missing me.” A teasing note snuck into his voice at the end, but with his eyes closed, Taako could feel the barest hesitance in his movements. When he didn’t get an answer, Kravitz continued. “I know I tend to get… carried away with my work, but-“

Taako rolled his eyes, scooting up and blindly attempting to shut him up with another kiss. He missed, bumping into one of those fabulous cheekbones instead, but Kravitz got the message, tilting the elf’s chin with two fingers and meeting him halfway in a slow, savored kiss.

“It’s not work, bubbelah,” he murmured. “It’s your passion, right?” When he opened his eyes, he met Kravitz’s gaze, locked on him with a wonderment and awe, and _love_ , so much of it that Taako was still shook by it, even after years.

“How do you _do_ that?” Kravitz asked with the ghost of a breath against Taako’s lips, and then he pressed forward again, lips meeting. And they didn’t say anything for a while after that.

 

 

After that night, Kravitz made a clear effort to break himself away from rehearsal to spend some time with Taako here and there, and Taako couldn’t say he didn’t appreciate it. He was making his own effort, though – and he forced himself to let Kravitz pull away to go orchestrate (ha) his hidden masterpiece, even when some secret, silent part deep inside him screamed that those scant few moments hadn’t been enough.

There was another benefit to this new setup, too - and that was how Kravitz looked when he came to see Taako between rehearsals. Taako loved how his eyes lit up, his face almost flushed with exertion, loved the quirk of his lips that betrayed his excitement and joy, and how it split into a full-blown grin whenever he saw Taako. And it made Taako realize something.

Kravitz was happy – with him, with his job, with his new, weird family and working with Lup and Barry. Taako didn’t have any doubts about that – Kravitz had crushed them all over time, after the Day of Story and Song. Kravitz was happy with his new lot in life – in death, rather.

This? This wasn’t happiness. This was _exuberance_ , a life and a spirit to him that Taako had only ever caught glimpses of before. This was something really great for Kravitz. It was icing on a perfect cake, the firm filling of a macaroon, it was –

Taako almost dropped a pan of lasagna when it hit him.

It was like cooking.

Brenna, standing on a counter stool, caught his sudden revelation. “All good, chef?” the percussionist asked, raising an eyebrow. He was quick to recover, setting the hot lasagna down on some cooling pads and waving his hand dismissively.

“Nothing, just… a thought that occurred to me,” he said, turning away, feeling giddy and excited, and unsure where the feeling came from.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the show arrives!

Ren, saint that she was, took care of the advertising, and when she finally decided to bring Taako in three days before the big show, that was when he finally heard the name of the program.

“”The Triumph of the World?”” he asked, reading over the flier. “”The Day of Story and Song?” What does _that_ mean?”

“Haven’t you heard it?” Ren asked. Taako scowled, and her eyes lit in understanding. “Ohh, that’s right, I forgot that part’s a surprise.” She shuffled some of the files on the table, pushing one or two surreptitiously out of view. “Are you sure you wanna help out with this?”

Taako sighed with long-suffering drama, pleased when it got the giggle from her he’d been hoping to get. “Yeah, I guess I’ll help. It’ll keep me distracted, anyways.”

 

 

The day of the performance rolled around, and Taako woke to the briefest of kisses on his forehead, a murmured “Love you,” and the sound of the fabric of space tearing. The rest of the day was a blur – getting appropriately decked out, helping Ren oversee last minute changes and adjustments, inspecting the theatre _personally_ to ensure everything was up to his exacting standards for Kravitz.

He saw his boyfriend briefly, as the orchestra filtered in to practice the set one last time before the show, and his chest tightened when Kravitz looked over at him, so full of light already and only glowing all the more when their eyes met, beaming at him from across the auditorium.

Ren whisked him away before Taako could kidnap the conductor, but he did manage to nab a hi-five from Lup on his way out.

Waiting was agonizing, but Ren, Istus bless her, had anticipated his antsy-ness and planned dinner. Everyone important had been invited to the show, and, consequently, the dinner beforehand, and Taako’s ego was suitably stoked by the turnout, especially since the venue was one of _his_ restaurants. It helped that literally everyone had complimented his dope outfit, a long black dress with a strike of peacock blue down the back, and a feathered neckline that slung over one shoulder and narrowed to a cling under his arm on the other side. A simple silver necklace, a handful of bangles with small sapphires studded into them, and two teardrop sapphires that dangled from his normally over-adorned ears, completed the image, and he was pleased as punch with the balance of classy and simple, and gaudy and over-the-top.

Dinner was a great affair. All of the IPRE not performing were there, although Taako made sure Lucretia was sitting a way away from himself and Davenport – it had been nearly five years, but Taako had never trusted easily, and still wasn’t sure how to go about rebuilding trust, even with effort on both sides. Magnus sat with her, and Merle and his kids sat next to them, with Angus next to Mavis. Taako sat next to him, with Ren and Davenport on his other side, then Carey and Killian, dressed almost as awesomely as he is. Even Klaarg was able to accept the invite, bringing along his sister and dad (apparently, granddad wasn’t feeling it), and Taako was delighted to share more of his culinary genius with the bugbears, even if he hadn’t done the cooking.

There was a general buzz of excitement for the performance, and a number of questions were turned to Taako, but he deflected them, cultivating an air of mystery (as if he knew what the show was going to be) and redirecting the questions back to what everyone was doing these days. There was a brief period of quiet when everyone’s meals arrived (of course there was, it was all _Taako_ _’s_ recipes) before conversation picked back up, and the group would not be denied their speculation on the secret performance.

“Do you think he has something original, or is he using an older composition?” Angus wondered aloud. His voice was deeper now, five years into puberty, though it had a tendency to crack at the worst (most hilarious) times. “Considering it’s Story and _Song_ , I feel like Johann’s “March of the Forgotten” is likely in it, right?”

“No, no Johann, not you,” Magnus shushed, sliding something off his plate to his deer-hound, who sat back, placated. Taako snorted at the sight, and Magnus gave him a sheepish grin. “Sorry, I couldn’t leave him at home.”

“Just make sure he behaves himself,” Taako drawled, taking a sip of his wine. Angus turned to him.

“What do you think, sir?”

“I think I might have to make a “No dogs in the restaurant” rule,” Taako joked, waving away the puppy eyes Magnus sent him across the table. Lucretia chuckled into her glass, and Taako half smirked to her.

“I meant about the performance, Taako,” Angus said, and Taako’s stomach flip-flopped suddenly. He blinked, lowering his glass at the sensation. He hadn’t felt _that_ since… well, since he’d first started Sizzle It Up. Stage fright? Psh, he was a born performer; besides, it wasn’t like _he_ was gonna be on stage…

Oh shit, Angus was still waiting for a response.

“ _I_ think,” he said slowly, buying himself some time, “that it, like everything else Kravitz does, is gonna be dorky as hell, and _super baller._ ”

 

 

Ren was the only person he trusted to sit with him at the actual performance. Regardless of what he’d said to anyone else about how nerdy the whole thing was, he was eager to listen to the culmination of Kravitz’s efforts. He’d be damned if he had someone trying to whisper to him through the show, and as much as he loved and tolerated his friend group, he _knew_ most of them wouldn’t be able to resist themselves.

So he and Ren made their way to the best seats in Neverwinter Royal Theatre - a box on stage left, with an excellent view of the stage. As they pushed through the curtain to the box, the discordant sound of last minute tuning grew louder, along with the lively murmurs of conversation from the seating below them. Taako sprawled himself across the large fancy chair that had been provided, Ren settling down into her own next to him.

He was watching the stage intently, trying to distract himself from that nervous flutter rising inexplicably in his chest again. Barry and Lup, he noticed, were settled on the right side of the stage, separated by the entirety of the violins section, although he did catch her turning in her chair to blow him a kiss as he ran through his scales. Brenna stood at the back near him, her mallets at the ready, an assortment of gongs, drums and bells surrounding her. She happened to look up when Taako found her, and grinned, giving him a wave.

He grinned and returned it with a small wave of his own, before catching the amused look on Ren’s face. He settled back in his chair. “What?”

“Nervous?”

He scoffed. “Nervous? Me? I’m not the one performing.”

“But Kravitz is,” she said, sing-song. He glared over at her, but she just laughed. “It’s sweet you want him to do well, Taako.”

He grumbled a little at the blow to his aloof, celebrity personality, turning to examine the program instead, and she laughed harder.

Soon enough, though, the lights above flickered to announce the show’s beginning. Below them, the theatre went quiet, just the occasional cough or scuff as people settled into their seats.

Taako was perched at the edge of his, not even noticing Ren hiding her smile behind her hand.

The lights came up on the stage, and a round of polite applause rose as Kravitz walked across to center stage, into the spotlight.

Ren must have told him where they’d be seated, because the first place he looked was up to their box, red eyes sparkling as he smiled warmly at him. Taako felt struck - that energy that he’d seen in Kravitz, between rehearsals, was present - but it was _amplified_ , now, with the orchestra behind him and the audience falling silent as he raised his hand to pause them.

A wand of thaumaturgy had been provided, to act as an amplifier, but his voice had no problem carrying through the space on its own. “People of Neverwinter and greater Faerun - welcome to The Triumph of the World, The Day of Story and Song. I’m sure the name hasn’t escaped you. It’s a day of grave importance, the fifth anniversary of which is coming up next month. A day where the whole planar system changed. We were attacked, and we defended ourselves, and we won, thanks to the help we received from the Seven Birds.” There was a spattering of applause at the IPRE’s new moniker, and he waited politely for it to subside. “We all know the story. We all heard the song. And in the five years since the Hunger tried to take our planar system, we have taken to heart the messages in that story, that song. We don’t forget. We act with kindness. We fight, and we fight for what is better, to right wrongs, and to give everyone the opportunity to find joy.”

He paused, a small smile coming to his lips. “I was fortunate enough to have found joy before the Day of Story and Song, and have been lucky enough to keep it since.” He looked back up at the balcony, and Taako stuck his tongue out at him. Dang him for being so suave.

Kravitz smiled wider, before looking back to the audience at large. “In the five years since the Day of Story and Song, the world has changed. We have triumphed, and we continue to revel in that triumph each and every day we find joy. And these following compositions - they are a testament to that. To the Story we heard, the people who fought, who lived, who died, who _won_ , and with that winning, changed the world. This is, The Triumph of the World, The Day of Story and Song.”

And with that, he turned his back to the crowd against instant applause, and raised his hand, poised for the orchestra.

Everyone’s breath held. Taako leaned forward.

The hand dropped.

 

 

Here’s the thing:

Taako knew Kravitz was a bard – it’s no secret. He knew his bone boy was a music nerd, and he’d produced a handy cantrip now and then, but Taako had never heard him play. Clearly, there were several bards in the orchestra itself, and he knew that they were probably adding their own magic, but Kravitz –

Kravitz was playing the orchestra, and with every movement of his hand, it bent, and whispered, and sung like the fine-tuned instrument it is, in the hands of a master.

Taako was spellbound as he listened, along with the hundreds of people in the theatre below him, as they heard the Triumph of the World.

They listened, and heard the fanfare of the Starblaster’s maiden - and only - voyage.

They listened, and heard the animals of the first planet, the beach, the ensouled robots, the Judges and the running and the fighting and the _surviving._

They listened, and heard the creation of the Relics, the ache of separating the Light of Creation, and the echoing ache it caused in the world.

They listened, and heard the story of a family finding itself again, putting itself back together, alongside the Light of Creation.

(Taako thought he heard the crinkle-tinkles of Lucas’s lab fit in there, as well, and his heart swelled at the remembrance).

They listened, and they heard the roar of the Hunger, and the song that inspired them to fight back… and then, they heard it again, not a march, this time, not the somber driving dirge that pushed them onward, refusing to be forgotten - this time they heard it, and they heard the world renewed. They heard, echoed in music, ensconced in song, what Kravitz had said in the beginning.

They listened, and they heard a world that had lived, and thrived.

They heard a world that had found joy.

 

 

The silence that followed the symphony’s end was deafening, and the applause that followed it, moreso. It took Taako’s brain a moment to catch up with his settings, though, still reeling with the power behind the music he’d just heard. He was reminded of the first time he’d heard Johann’s music, and now that he thought about it, Kravitz probably had talked to Johann about the last piece, about reforming it for an orchestra, about recomposing parts of it to reflect the now.

The crowd was cheering wildly, and Kravitz hadn’t turned back to them, not quite yet, still grinning down from his post at the orchestra. Most of the orchestra was smiling back, some wiping sweat from their brows, others resting their arms, others just breathing deeply. Lup lifted her bow in a salute, then gestured to the crowd. Kravitz turned, finally acknowledging the wild applause, and bowed.

Taako didn’t know when he’d started crying, hadn’t noticed the tracks of tears down his cheeks, but his face was split wide, laughter starting to bubble up within him as he jumped up with a cheer. At the sound of his voice, Kravitz immediately looked up at him, laughing back as he gestured to Taako, the benefactor of the event, and the cheering grew-

And then, it stopped.

It wasn’t a sudden cut, it was a quick, cold sweep across the auditorium, the hands of people suddenly freezing in place as they felt the chill, looking up and gaping.

On stage, Kravitz looked a mixture of pleased, puzzled, and apprehensive.

Taako blinked down at the stage, then looked to the audience.

The Raven Queen, standing behind the stunned crowd, regarded him in turn.

There was silence for a long, breathless moment.

Carefully, the Raven Queen moved forward. She seemed to swell in size as she did, starting out at a person’s height, but soon towering above the audience. Her gown swept over them, and yet around them, each feather tracing past but never quite touching, and when she stopped again, she was before the stage, her dark visage looking down upon her Reaper and the orchestra.

_That was a fine performance,_ she said simply, her voice quiet as it filled the ears of everyone present. _You should all be quite proud._ She turned her glowing gaze to Kravitz, then, and the barest hint of a smile appeared. _And Kravitz. I am pleased to see you take such pleasure in making such beauty._

Kravitz bowed, deeply, and looked up with the smile a child might give their parent. “Thank you, My Lady.”

She nodded… and then she turned to face Taako, and he felt his blood run cold. _Taako, the elven wizard,_ she said, her voice dry as the autumn leaves, crackling like ice. He swallowed. _The one who escaped death, only to come running back to his arms. The one who stole his heart._ She leaned in, and Taako found himself paralyzed under her gaze, unable to do anything but look back as her eyes blazed into him. _This is a kind thing you_ _’ve done,_ she said, her voice only for him, now. _I had my doubts about your intentions_ _… but I have watched you do this, and it has been done for him._ She paused. _Kravitz is_ _… very dear to me._ Her voice turned, and Taako could hear talons shifting over scales across a stone floor when she spoke again. _I would not tolerate someone who would not be good to him._

He tried to open his mouth, to respond, but she held up a single finger, shutting down his attempt. _You,_ she said, reaching forward, and he felt the chill of her hand, although she never touched him, cupping his cheek. Her voice took on a note of amusement. _You, I think, I will give a chance._

And then she was gone.

Taako sat there, slack-jawed and blinking dumbly. Slowly, Ren settled back into her chair from the spot she’d pushed herself into.

There was a faint clap, then a few, then another round of nervous, excited applause. Taako heard the rip in existence next to him, but didn’t quite register it until Kravitz wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in.

“I think she likes you,” he whispered in Taako’s ear, chuckling and giving him a little peck on the cheek.

“Think so?” Taako asked, dazed. Kravitz laughed, pulling him in for a proper kiss, while the crowd below applauded.

**Author's Note:**

> The Book of Taako quote is from (Fantasy) Jon Bon Jovi.


End file.
